Newcastle United join the race for Philippe Coutinho

Newcastle United have entered the fray to sign Philippe Coutinho, according to a recent report from GOAL.

Since completing a €166 million move to Camp Nou back in 2018, Coutinho has failed to live up to expectations at Barcelona which led to a loan move to Aston Villa back in January.

Steven Gerrard’s men are thought to be keen on acquiring the Brazilian’s services on a permanent basis and have an option to buy for €40m but the Viilans now face competition from Newcastle.

This was confirmed by transfer insider Dean Jones in a chat with GIVEMESPORT: “Steven Gerrard still wants Villa to sign Coutinho, but Newcastle are watching this with interest.

“At the end of the month, Villa have to tell Barcelona whether they intend to take up the option to buy him – and if they hesitate I’m told Newcastle will look to make a proposal to the player.”

The Magpies are willing to fork out Barcelona’s asking price for Coutinho, who they had chased in the past albeit to no avail.

Coutinho reportedly prefers to make his switch to England permanent in order to boost his chances of making Brazil’s squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup which kicks off in November.

Having already preserved their top-flight status thanks to a brilliant second half of the campaign, Newcastle are already making plans for the summer.

Newcastle had a busy January window, bringing in Kieran Trippier, Chris Wood, Dan Burn, Matt Targett and Bruno Guimaraes, and a similar level of activity is expected in the upcoming transfer market.

Securing a move for Coutinho would arguably be Newcastle’s biggest statement of intent so far as the 29-year-old has recently shown glimpses of his blistering form at Liverpool where he was one of the Premier League’s most productive attackers.